Benteke move to Liverpool being held up by financing problems

Yesterday we found out that, possibly in response to interest from Manchester United, Liverpool had triggered Christian Benteke's release clause of £32.5 million. At that point, Aston Villa had no say at all and all that was left was for the Belgian striker to agree to terms with Brendan Rodgers' team. But it turns out that Villa might still have some power in this negotiation after all, and it's all because Liverpool don't want to pay for their all-time second-biggest signing all at once.

The news comes from David Ornstein, who is apparently on the Aston Villa beat today after giving us some great insightinto Fabian Delph's seemingly imminent departure. Here's what he had to say about Benteke:

Benteke clause also met but not in full up front. #LFC want to structure payment so must agree that with #AVFC before CB can undergo medical

— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) July 17, 2015

Now Villa can play a little bit of hardball. Given that they will want to turn around and reinvest this money quickly, they could hold out and force Liverpool to give the whole amount up front. Or they could take some sort of a structured deal and amortise their own purchases in much the same way.

Either way, it seems that things aren't quite as complete as we heard yesterday. And in a summer in which we're quickly finding out just how little power Villa have had lately, it's nice to see a little bit returned.